Himachal's Affair With Flowers

Farmers in Himachal Pradesh are ditching traditional food crops to grow aromatic plants that offer higher and assured returns

- Ashwani Sharma

THE PEOPLE in my village thought I had gone mad when I decided to give up maize and grow wild marigolds in 2017,” says Pawan Kumar, a farmer in Himachal Pradesh. “The rebukes grew stronger when the flowers failed to bloom the first season,” recalls the 45-year-old resident of the backward Talla village in Chamba district that does not even have a motorable road. Today, Pawan has become a role model for most farmers in the district. He earns a phenomenal `1.2 lakh a hectare—which is roughly five times what he would earn from maize cultivation. Similarly, Ganesh Prashar from Band Kadian village in Kangra district is reaping the benefits of lemongrass which he started growing just four years ago. “I started farming in one bigha (6 bigha is a hectare) and today I am cultivating 46 bighas. I have also formed a society of 25 farmers, 16 of whom have already shifted to lemon grass cultivation,” he says.